Thailand

'The Beach'

The beach famously known since the movie with Leonardo Dicarprio. It is on Ko Phi Phi Ley a smaller island off Koh Phi Phi on the west coast of Thailand.

Koh Phi Phi Island

Paul and I stayed at the Bay View resort which was on the hill looking over Laehim beach. The resorts and hotels in this area were not damaged in the tsunami, but there were a lot of new hotels still being built in the middle of the island.

The scenery on the way to Koh Phi Phi Ley. We took a speed boat over to the island and stopped to do a little snorkeling near the island. The water was so clear and the fish were brilliantly colored.

Our last thai meal before heading back to Hong Kong. On the last night we went to the night market and stayed to eat dinner.

Hiking in Hong Kong

For all of you complaining about the lack of photos. Here is a slightly better picture of Paul and me.

We have been running and hiking more since the Christmas holiday. This is a photo from a trail around the old battery in Hong Kong. The guns were put up at a lookout to protect the island. From there the trail winds around to the Peak.

The view behind us is Central the main business district on Hong Kong island.

Christmas in Arizona

No Christmas celebration can be complete without a giant inflatable Spongebob. This year the Austin clan went out to Yuma, Arizona to celebrate Christmas. Every year during the holidays the street that my grandparents live on is transformed from Vista Lane to Candy Cane Lane. Every house decorates just after Thanksgiving and then the cars start to trickle in. On Christmas Eve, police are needed to keep the flow of cars going.

Elliotts, Austins and Nelsons plus Medha, a French foreign exchange student.

This year marked the 45th year of Candy Cane Lane!

Vietnam

Girls carrying a younger brother in a hill tribe near Sa Pa in the mountains of Vietnam. On the last morning of our biking trip, we went off roading and visited a Thai village. We were invited into a house which was so similar to the huts in Ecuador it convinced me of the theory that the tribes migrated from China and Mongolia. The funny part was the main living area included a wood burning fire with a cooking pot, a loom and a television playing "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" in Vietnamese.

View from a scenic spot in Ha Long Bay which we fondly knicknamed "how long" bay. We joined a package trip from hanoi which started with a 3 hour bus ride in a tiny van crammed with 12 people and lots of luggage. Our bus made a rather long stop at a tourist trap of a shop which was stopping point for all the Ha long Bay tours. Unfortunately, we got there early and our van was trapped for much longer than expected. We also waited quite a while for our boat and then the next boat. We ended up reaching the hotel 4 hours late but then got in trouble for being 5 minutes late for dinner. Even with all of the waiting, the scenery was beautiful!

Carla and Marcus in a cyclo touring Hanoi on our second day. We rode the cyclos past pagodas, the main lake and jumped out at the Ho Chi Min's museum.

Paul and me on the second boat in Ha Long Bay. The boat was tiny but the views from the top deck were spectacular. The tiny huts behind us were built on the water. The villages were spread out throughout the bay.

On the first day of our bike trip, we stopped at a local school to drop off stationary, pencils and markers. Our presence completely interrupted all classes and the kids ran around us saying "hi" and using other English phrases that they must be learning in school. The teachers invited us inside for tea, and then we took a photo outside with the whole school.

Wedding in Spain

In early August, I flew to Spain and met up with Paul to go to the wedding of another teacher that works at the Chinese International school. Patrick works at CIS and he is from New Haven, Connecticut. His wife, Nuria, is from Spain. The wedding took place in a small town just north of Barcelona where Nuria's family lives. The town is right on the water and was built up into the mountains.

The wedding took place in a Catholic church in down by the ocean. Most of the ceremony was in spanish, so Patrick had to be nudged whenever it was his turn to speak. Luckily he didn't have to say much more that si.

World Cup in Italy

Ave and I traveled back from Cinque Terra to Pisa on Sunday in order to catch an early morning flight back to the US. We also arrived just in time to watch the last World Cup game from a bridge in Pisa. Ave had picked out her favorite pizza restaurant to eat in for dinner and then left plenty of time for us to find a bar to watch the game. However, the whole town was shut down because of the game, so we ended up getting kebabs, gelato and beer. Then we watched the game on a big screen put up in the middle of the street.

Neither of us thought that Italy was going to win. The honking and celebrating lasted all night. We ended up leaving Pisa at 7am the next morning not having seen the leaning tower or having had any pizza.

Cinque Terra

Over the summer, I met up with Avelyn in Italy just as she finished her May mester classes. I flew into Venice and traveled back with her group to Florence where I stayed with her host family. While Avelyn was in classes, I wandered the streets and drank countless numbers of cappachinos. Hong Kong is definitely lacking good coffee!

After exams, Avelyn and I headed to Cinque Terra for a weekend of hiking. We made it through all the trails that link the five villages the first night, and due to complications with the train, we spent the rest of the weekend suntanning on the beach, shopping and eating great seafood. (photos above)

Dragon Boating Races

The practices and races take place at Stanley which is on the southern side of the island. Teams are legally only allowed to practice 10 times before the race but the professional teams are known to buy their own boats to get around this rule. Our team was a mixed male/female team. We were called the Sundowners and are in the orang tops on the left. The boats around the edges are tied closely together and form a perfect horseshoe around the racing area. Everyone not racing hangs out on the boat watching, eating, drinking and dancing to the blaring music.
This was the end of the second race of the day for our team. All the boats paddle out turn towards the beach and wait for the gun before racing back in to the beach.

This is a photo of the whole team. I am in the front and I work with Belinda (on my left) and Carla (3rd from the left in the front row).

Long Delay!

Due to my own stupidity when packing this summer, I have not been able to load pictures on to my computer and add to the blog until now. I hope you enjoy the short blurbs and the pictures.

Symphony of Lights

After 8 months in Hong Kong, I finally saw the Hong Kong light show from Tsim Sha Tsai. The first night Vicky and John were here, we took the old Star ferry over to Kowloon, wandered the markets, and made it back to the waterfront in time for the 8pm light show.

The light show has just been admitted into the Guinness Book of World Records because it has the largest number of independent or company buildings participating and has been going daily for the longest period of time.

The best view is from Kowloon because you can see the entire business area of Hong Kong Island from across Victoria Harbour. Strobe lights flash, buildings change colors, and some even sport pocka dots. It is quite a show although it would be interesting to have the music in the background to help coordinate the symphony of lights. I will have to find out what symphony they actually used when coordinating the light show.

Year 6 Camp

Year 6 was split into two groups that traveled between two locations. The group that I was a part of started on Tung Lung Island where we camped in tents and had outhouses for toilets. The activities on the island were the best of the two locations though. On the first day, my group did the zip line across the ocean between two cliffs and then we moved on to rockclimbing. The kids took pictures of my climb while yelling encouraging suggestions about where to put my hands and feet. Unfortunately, my feet and hands are about 5 times bigger than theirs and the suggestions didn't always work.

One of the activities at the Sai Kung location was raft building. In teams the kids had to build a raft with inner tubes, rope, and bamboo sticks. Then they had to paddle across a little bay, rescue their teacher, and transport the teacher back to the other side. Marcus and I weren't sure the raft would actually make it across to us, but both teams made it.

Two kids in my group heading over the cliff towards the zip line. In the backgrond, you can see the rockclimbing spot and the absailing (repelling) spot.

A far away view of a team headed to the zipline.

Camp Reflection

It was great to see the kids open up over the 3 days. Most of the kids had never experienced anything like this before and even hiking on non-concrete paths was new. Unfortunately, they weren't good with bugs either and one tent of boys kept me up all night because of a spider. One girl brought a powder that was supposed to keep away snakes, so her tent had a big yellow powder circle around it.

Things to remember for next year:

1. Don't get stuck in the tent that is on the way to the bathroom on the first night because the kids don't sleep at all the first night!
2. Bring snacks because the kids are responsible for cooking the food and sometimes it was a bit interesting.
3. Don't volunteer to be the only teacher supervising the girls in the dormatory at the youth hostel.

Hong Kong Rugby 7's

The Kiwi team meets just after a game at the Rugby 7's. It wasn't the professional All Blacks playing, and unfortunately the team didn't start the games with the traditional Hakka.

This photo of the South stand doesn't really do a good job of capturing the craziness. In this part of the stadium, fans are allowed to drink and most have on wild costumes. The heat on Saturday made the guys in Speedos and swimming caps the best dressed, but various superheros and literary characters filled the seats as well.

During the team procession, the Kenyans danced in traditional dress. The French seemed to have the best sense of humour though. After hearing the amount of booing on Saturday, they showed up on Sunday with cardboard shields with chickens dressed in French colors. At each corner of the stadium they stopped, huddled together and allowed the fans to throw various objects at them. Even a few eggs were hurled!

After the procession of teams, a traditional lion, dragon, and unicorn dance was performed in the stadium.

Neon Signs

Along with the great restaurants the strip in Sai Kung have tons of massive neon signs. They are a bit cheesy looking but they add to the environment.

Seafood in Sai Kung

In Sai Kung, Ave and I ate at a restaurant looking over the harbor. This strip is famous for the seafood restaurants that have tanks of marine life and you can pick the exact fish out that you want to eat. Before eating, Ave and I walked along the harbor and saw the boats that line up with the catch of the day. In the evening you can see people out buying their dinner.

These tanks were right behind our table at dinner.

Ave and I got a fixed meal which was huge! We had clams, crab, lobster, and oysters. Unfortunately we took this picture near the end of the meal because at one point our entire table was covered in dishes piled high with food.

Ave's Visit

Cocktails at the Beach

On Tuesday, Ave and I went to Stanley Market and then had an amazing dinner at Wildfire which is in a huge old colonial building that looks out over the water. It was one of our more chill evenings because we were tired from all the walking on Monday.

Dinner on Friday

Ave flew out Friday night, but it was late enough that we were able to have dinner and go to a re-opening of a club in Lan Kwai Fong. We were out dancing right up until we went to the airport.